Michael van Gerwen tasted victory for the first time on the PDC European Tour since 2019 with a superb comeback win over Rob Cross in Sunday’s Interwetten German Darts Championship final.<\/p>\n
The Dutchman followed up back-to-back Cazoo Premier League wins in Exeter and Brighton with his first ranking title of 2022 in style at Halle 39 in Hildesheim.<\/p>\n
Van Gerwen’s last of 32 previous European Tour successes had come in Graz in 2019, but he showed his class to scoop the \u00a325,000 title with an 8-5 success over Cross.<\/p>\n
That included a spirited fightback in the final after Cross opened up leads of 2-0 and 4-1, with Van Gerwen producing legs of 12, 13 and 12 darts to level.<\/p>\n
Cross took out 121 to move back ahead in leg nine, but Van Gerwen levelled and capitalised on a miss from his rival at tops to break for a 6-5 lead, before legs of 11 and 14 darts wrapped up the title.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been working for this for a really long time and it means a lot to me,” said Van Gerwen, who returns to third on the PDC Order of Merit following the win.<\/p>\n
“To win a [European Tour] tournament again feels absolutely phenomenal. I keep fighting and I never give up. I’m not done yet!<\/p>\n
“Everyone knows I love to play tournaments in Germany – the crowds have been absolutely fantastic, and it means the world.”<\/p>\n
Van Gerwen survived three missed match darts from Dimitri Van den Bergh at the end of their dramatic semi-final, before pinning double 18 to complete a 13-darter in their deciding leg.<\/p>\n
He had benefitted from a bye in the quarter-finals following the withdrawal of Peter Wright due to a back problem following the world number one’s third round defeat of Krzysztof Ratajski.<\/p>\n
Van Gerwen had, though, seen off Martin Lukeman 6-4 in the last 16 to follow up Saturday’s opening victory over Jose Justicia.<\/p>\n
Cross had to produce a rousing comeback from 4-2 down in his quarter-final with Karel Sedlacek, reeling off four straight legs to keep his hopes of Hildesheim glory alive.<\/p>\n
He subsequently averaged 100 in his 7-4 semi-final defeat of Daryl Gurney to follow up an earlier 99 average in a 6-3 third round win over Dirk van Duijvenbode.<\/p>\n
However, the European Championship winner fell just short of finally claiming a European Tour title, but said: “Michael played great and I missed my chances.<\/p>\n
“He took them and that’s what he used to do. I’m happy for him that he got over the line; he’s winning and working hard and I’ve been in the same boat.<\/p>\n
“It’s nice to see him back a little bit, and hopefully I can keep improving for the future.”<\/p>\n
Premier League duo Michael Smith and Jonny Clayton joined Sedlacek in losing out at the quarter-final stage, while Van den Bergh’s wait to reach a European Tour final continues following his narrow semi-final defeat.<\/p>\n
Smith had averaged over 108 in his brilliant 6-1 third round win over Dave Chisnall, while Czech ace Sedlacek finished six doubles from 11 attempts in his 6-4 defeat of Jose de Sousa to reach his first European Tour quarter-final for three years.<\/p>\n
The PDC European Tour returns with the Interwetten German Darts Grand Prix from April 16-18 in Munich, which will be streamed through PDCTV and exclusively in Germany, Austria & Switzerland via DAZN.<\/p>\n
Interwetten German Darts Championship Evening Session Semi-Finals<\/strong> Final<\/strong> Michael van Gerwen tasted victory for the first time on the PDC European Tour since 2019 with a superb comeback…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[943,109,124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-pdc-europe","category-results"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nSunday March 13
\nAfternoon Session
\nLast 16<\/strong>
\nMichael van Gerwen 6-4 Martin Lukeman
\nPeter Wright 6-4 Krzysztof Ratajski
\nDimitri Van den Bergh 6-1 Ryan Searle
\nMichael Smith 6-1 Dave Chisnall
\nDaryl Gurney 6-3 Joe Cullen
\nJonny Clayton 6-4 Mensur Suljovic
\nRob Cross 6-3 Dirk van Duijvenbode
\nKarel Sedlacek 6-4 Jose de Sousa<\/p>\n
\nQuarter-Finals<\/strong>
\nMichael van Gerwen Bye (Peter Wright withdrew due to back injury)
\nDimitri Van den Bergh 6-3 Michael Smith
\nDaryl Gurney 6-5 Jonny Clayton
\nRob Cross 6-4 Karel Sedlacek<\/p>\n
\nMichael van Gerwen 7-6 Dimitri Van den Bergh
\nRob Cross 7-4 Daryl Gurney<\/p>\n
\nMichael van Gerwen 8-5 Rob Cross<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"